Monday 28 November 2011

Beanie idea

I brought my laptop down today while waiting for the laundry. Although you don’t have to watch it constantly, the machines never seem to be able to keep the times they show. So today as usual, my machine #2 was showing “1 minute left” for 11 minutes straight. Good thing I bought my laptop!
I took the chance to sort some pictures in my hair folders.
     
I have been following this thread on UTT about hair friendly winter hats and been super envious of all the awesome hats and knitting skills. I have never found a hat that will cover my bun and head without sliding backwards at the forehead and bunching up at the neck. Some longhairs seem to be happy with a caliometry which is a beanie without the back, so a bun pokes out. Me, I definitely want to cover all my hair to protect it from wind and cold!
    
As I wrote before in my blog I want to learn to knit, but knitting alone wouldn’t be enough to create the hair hat I want. I would want silken lining on the inside as well. 
    
Anyways, when I was down at the laundry room I got an idea for the “ultimate” bun covering beanie. 
I used a picture of me taken from the side as reference. And suddenly understood why my beanies always slide back! Look how huge my bun is compared to my head?! No wonder I will have to learn to knit to get a hat that fits… 
    
Pardon the drawing quality, but I used what I had at hand which was a big marker, probably left over by a child. (Our laundry room is a study in weirdness BTW! I always look forward to see what bizarre things are left there. This week it was a mix of gardening and car magazines. Last week there were lots of children’s toys and of course there was the month where the laundry room had been transformed into a fundamentalist Christian library. Weird.) Oh and pardon the rather embarrassing spelling error! 
     
Anyways. My idea was this:
  • An inner layer of cotton with silk around the bun and at the fragile hairs at the temples. My experience with silk tells me that a full layer of silk will only result in irritating slipping, so I would want to reduce it to the more fragile/old parts. 
  • A roll of stuffing between the bun and head to disguise the bun-bump and offer extra insulation.
  • Two elastics stitched around the insulation-roll to stabilise the entire hat and keep it from sliding. Around the forehead for stability, either a wide elastic for distributing the tension or simply a regular headband. Some people experience headaches from the pressure of headbands, so maybe a drawstring would be a good idea. Would probably be a good idea anyways so the hat could be fitted for any head size. 
  • A knitted surface.
         
       
Now that I see my drawings and design based on my head and bun shape, I really understand why my regular U shaped beanies always slip and irritate me. A specialised hair beanie really needs a distinct asymmetric shape!

7 comments:

  1. Actually, I found many patterns that suggest lining certain knit hats for extra warmth/protection.

    So, question--could you use a scarf you have and then put a beanie over it?

    Knitting is very easy/simple to do, but I found making hats frustrating--they were always too small for my head, and my head isn't that big ;)

    So, check out Ravelery--they have great free patterns and a lovely community, or ask some of the ladies at UTT if they could make you a ponytail hat and you could put a beanie over it?

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  2. You've put far more thought into this than ever have... But then, I don't mind running around in rainbow elf hats. =P

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  3. awesome idea :D now where can I buy one??

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  4. Hmm, can you make lots of these hats? I'm sure lots of long hairs would love one- I've only got waist/hip hair and already I have trouble fitting hats over my bun comfortably.

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  5. Graeth, no. As I wrote in the post, I don’t even know how to knit. Nor do I own a sewing machine.

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  6. Ah, that's a shame :(

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